Weddings and Lost Choices
by she-never-missed
Summary: "They were friends, only friends, so the thought of Scorpius marrying her cousin shouldn't bring a bitter taste to her mouth. It shouldn't make her heart ache and her hands go numb and her eyes flood with tears." Medieval Scorose AU. ONESHOT.


**So this is a Medieval AU, set in 1198, but you guys might want to try to excuse my lack of history knowledge. So I'm sorry to any history buffs out there who want to eat me now (side note: please don't. I don't taste very good.) This was written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition, with the prompt of writing about wedding day in 1198 with the additional prompts of the quote ****_"I think I've discovered the secret of life - you just hang around until you get used to it.",_**** and the words 'flood' and 'spitting'. Hope you enjoy it.******

_"I think I've discovered the secret of life - you just hang around until you get used to it." Charles M. Schulz_

Love was never part of the deal to Harry and Ginny Potter. All they wanted was for their daughter to marry a respectable, well raised man, and Scorpius Malfoy fit the circumstances. Lily Potter, the daughter in question, didn't care too much. Scorpius was reserved, but he seemed decent enough. He was two years older than she was, eighteen, tall and lean and strong. As far as husbands went, Lily decided she could do a lot worse.

However, Rose Weasley, cousin of the bride-to-be, had a few problems of her own regarding the matter. Not that her parents knew, but she'd known Scorpius since she was young. Both of their families were well off enough that they could send their children to school, so at age seven, the two of them met for the first time. They'd got on well enough, and they were the brightest of their year. Rose, despite being one of only a few girls in her school, excelled, and Scorpius was right beside her.

Rose and Scorpius were eighteen now, and though they hadn't been to school in years, they still found ways to see each other- meeting behind the church one day, or sneaking out to the school after they were sure no one would look for them there. It wasn't a respectable thing to do, Rose knew, but she couldn't help herself.

They were friends, only friends, so the thought of Scorpius marrying her cousin shouldn't bring a bitter taste to her mouth. It shouldn't make her heart ache and her hands go numb and her eyes flood with tears. But it did. And it did so often that by the time the wedding day came, she was well practiced at hiding it.

She found Lily the morning of the wedding, dressed all in white with her red hair piled up on her head. She was sitting in her family home, although her parents and brothers were nowhere in sight. Rose sat beside her quietly, and the other girl smiled in acknowledgement to her presence, but didn't say anything.

"Do you know him very well?" Rose asked softly, not even bothering to clarify who 'him' meant.

Lily shook her head, "We met only a few weeks ago. Father said he comes from a wealthy family."

"That's a shame," Rose replied, carefully not looking into her cousin's eyes.

"Why?" Lily enquired, her brown eyes filled with innocent curiosity, "It's how it always is. You know that." She paused. "I am surprised your father hasn't found you a husband yet, though. It'll be harder for him to find someone suitable if he waits too long."

Rose studied the girl before her. They'd often been told their resemblance was striking. They had the same wavy red hair and fair skin, but Rose's eyes were blue rather than brown. And other than that, Lily's brightness and youth shone through her features, whereas Rose's eyes were always clouded with sadness, and her mouth turned down at the corners. Rose was older, so that could have something to do with it, but not much. She didn't kid herself into thinking that she was as lively as Lily when she had been sixteen. She had always been too analytical for her own good. She noticed everything that passed by her, both the happiness and the despair, while Lily saw only the good in everything. Lucky her, Rose thought. Ignorance is bliss.

"So you don't even like him?" Rose pressed. She knew it was silly, that hadn't been Lily's choice, nor would it be hers when it was her turn to marry. But she was so upset that she was spitting the words out without even thinking them over. A rarity.

"Well I'll learn to, I suppose," Lily replied, very obviously not catching on to Rose's mood, "It's really all right, Rose. I'll be fine."

So Lily thought that Rose was worried about _her. _It did make sense. After all, it was _Lily _who was to married later that day. But Lily's concerns were far off Rose's mind. "I'm sure you will be," she said shortly, and stood, "I'll see you at the ceremony."

Rose was behind the church before she even registered that she was walking there, but of course, it was the only place she'd think to go. It was one of the places that she and Scorpius used to meet, and even though they hadn't talked since Harry Potter first spoke to him about marrying his daughter, Rose still went to sit there almost every night.

Rounding the corner to the place she always sat, Rose stopped abruptly upon seeing that her spot was already taken. A blonde head raised at the sound of her arrival, and Scorpius Malfoy's shining grey eyes locked on hers. "I thought I might find you here," he said, and Rose's stomach tightened involuntarily.

"Did you?" she asked, wondering if that meant that he'd been looking for her, or that he'd come here and figured that she might come as well.

"I've been meaning to talk to you, but with the wedding preparations, there was hardly enough time."

Rose only nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

"How have you been doing?"

It seemed like a stupid question to Rose. How had she been doing? How could she possibly have been doing while knowing that the one boy she had wanted to marry was instead marrying her younger cousin. So she just said, "All right." and hoped he didn't see through it.

No such luck. "You know this wasn't either of our idea's," he said, and it took a moment for Rose to realize that 'our' referred to him and Lily. "Lily's father spoke to mine and arranged the whole thing. They had everyone believe that it was my choice, but they didn't give me much of a decision."

It was amazing how much that one line managed to ease the pain in Rose's chest. He didn't want to marry Lily. And he wanted her to know that, which could only mean one thing. He wanted the same thing she did.

"So what can we do?" Rose asked, her voice full of new-found hope.

But Scorpius's eyes were still sad, "We can't. Things are happening, and we can't stop them. This is how it's going to be. And we don't have to like it, for now at least, but if you stay around for long enough, you get used to things, and eventually you end up liking them."

So Rose watched the boy she loved marry her closest cousin. It hurt, but she stuck around, and after a while, she got used to it. But the one thing he was wrong about, is that as the years past, she never found herself able to be happy about it; only bear it.

And he never told her, but neither did he.


End file.
